Friday 7 May 2010

Downing on Sun

A recommended read: John Downing's most recent Downing's Views blog posting, in which he writes about print media columnists and the Toronto Sun's shift from a balanced newsroom.

"Now the Sun is setting in that area, and columnists are shouldering more of the hard news load. But there can be problem when you rely on your big columnists to always provide the major, and sometimes the only, coverage of big stories.

"One of the charms of being a columnist is the freedom to pontificate about whatever takes your interest. You don't, or shouldn't, assign columnists. If the editors keep calling up columnists and telling them to write on a specific event, then the columnist is just another feature writer and the job is no longer as attractive."

Exactly.

Downing, a former Toronto Sun vet, devotes most of his posting to the success of Sun columnists in the early years and life at the pre-Quebecor tabloid in general.

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